Homeschool Curriculum Revealed
It's that time again! Time for me to share everything we are doing this year in our homeschool! Hope this helps you to get an understanding of why we picked what we use and how I intend to use it.
*Don't miss the video that walks you through in detail all of our homeschool curriculum for this year. You can watch the video HERE or at the bottom of this post.
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Our 2016-2017 Curriculum Choices
This year we have quite the dynamic happening in our homeschool. I have an 8th grade, who is doing mostly high school work, a 7th grader, 2nd grader, kindergartener, and a preschooler. All five of my kids will be involved in our homeschool this year. The jury is still out if my little person will cooperate and actually enjoy being “in school” with everyone, though. Three year olds are unpredictable.
I'm so excited to show you all that we are using!!…
Everyone Together
This year we are going back to My Father's World's family cycle. We are on Year 5 which is 1850-Modern Times. We mostly do history, Bible, and read alouds with them. I like having their teacher's manual available to help me keep on track for the year.
As usual, I picked a few read aloud books to do with audio books. We try to do as much as we can together, however, with our wide spread of ages it's getting a bit harder. So, audio books have been a great asset in our home.
Mornings:
I'm changing up our morning routine a bit this year and using a technique called Your Morning Basket. So, we'll be doing Bible, read aloud, and memory work together at this time. I'd love to fit in some of our history reading here, too. We'll see how it goes.
(You can get a free printable for creating routines in my book, Sanity Savers for Moms. Click HERE for more details.)
Bible:
- Apologia's Who Is God?: We are using Apologia's four part series on What We Believe. We started last year with their Who Is God? book and are still finishing it up. I already have book two, Who Am I? ready to go. We have been using these books as part of our evening devotions. There are great family discussions that have come up as we read through these books. They are some of my favorite books for teaching Christian worldview.
- My Father's World: In God We Trust, Trial and Triumph, and Tales of Persia, and Then Sings My Soul. The way MFW does things is that we'll be reading bits and pieces of these books all year as we go through our history reading. Then Sings My Soul is a really great book on hymns and their history. I'm looking forward to that one. Trial and Triumph is one of my favorite collections of missionary stories. The other two are new to me this year.
- Drive Thru History's The Gospels series: We've loved Drive Thru History for years. Their videos are so fun and educational. I learn and laugh right along with the kids. This year we are doing their 18 part series called The Gospels as part of our evening devotions. We take a break from Who Is God? and watch a video some nights.
History, Read-Alouds, & Independent Reading:
As I mentioned we are using My Father's World this year. I really like doing history in chronological order. Here's some of the books we are doing this year:
History:
- Story of the World Volume 4: SOTW is part of MFW this year. We've used in parts in the past. I love their activity book. It is a great resource for read aloud books for a period of history. We also usually get the Jim Weiss audiobook CDs to listen to.
- Exploring American History, Children's Encyclopedia of American History, Presidents of America (love this one!), Streams of Civilization 2, America's Providential History, Sounding Forth the Trumpet, The Last 500 Years, U.S. History Cookbook, and Prayers That Changed History (another favorite). We will also use a CD to memorize our states and capitals.
Read Alouds:
- For my older boys (and anyone who listens in): Sergeant York and the Great War, YWAM's Corrie ten Boom, Brother Andrew, God's Smuggler, The Hiding Place (audio CDs), and Hudson Taylor (using Audible).
- For my 2nd grader: American Pioneers and Patriots, Farmer Boy, On the Banks of Plum Creek, In Grandma's Attic, A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt, Charlotte's Web, and Ivan and the Informer.
8th Grade
Writing: We love IEW in this house. You'll see we use it for a lot of subjects. Grant will be doing IEW's Elegant Essay in co-op this year.
Grammar & Penmanship: This year my son will be using IEW's Fix It Grammar again. It's a grammar program focused on learning to edit. It also has an element of copywork, so he will focus on good penmanship.
Spelling: We just started IEW's Phonetic Zoo Level C two years ago. What I love is that he can do his spelling independently using headphones to listen to his spelling test.
Math: We love Math U See! Grant is starting Geometry this year. I'm excited to have him try their new digital program this year.
Science: I'm really excited to be teaching Grant's co-op science class this year. We are doing Apologia Biology. He works independently through this science book and notebook. He will do the experiments and dissecting in our co-op class.
7th Grade:
Writing: Blake is doing U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons at co-op. He almost took Elegant Essay with Grant, but decided that this one sounded like more fun.
Grammar & Penmanship: We are taking a break from Growing with Grammar this year and doing IEW's Fix It Grammar. I think he'll really enjoy it. He picked Robin Hood.
Spelling: My 7th grader will also be doing IEW's Phonetic Zoo again this year.
Math: My son will be finishing up his Math U See Zeta book from last year & starting the next book {Pre-Algebra} mid-year.
Science: Blake is taking on General Science this year. We'll be driving up to a friend's house to join a different co-op just for this class.
2nd Grade:
My sweet boy is going to be joining us a bit for our My Father's World family cycle a bit this year. I already mentioned the books we are going through for history and some read aloud. I'm also going to have him read a series I really love, Imagination Station, with me.
Language Arts: Aside from all the history and read alouds we'll be doing, we'll be finishing up IEW’s Primary Arts of Language (PAL): Reading & Writing. There is a penmanship element in this program, so we will take a break from our A Reason for Handwriting in order not to burn him out.
Spelling: Wade will be continuing with All About Spelling.
Math: He's going to be finishing up his Math U See Beta book and probably move into his Gamma book.
Science: I'm really excited to do Apologia's Astronomy again this year. He'll be doing a class in co-op. However, all the reading at home will be with him and Ashlyn.
Kindergarten:
Typically, we start our kids at age 6 in kindergarten. We have a variety of reasons for doing this. However, we decided to start our daughter at age 5. We love that we waited to start our boys at age 6. We'll see how this year goes with Ashlyn. I've hesitated calling this her kindergarten year. Who knows, maybe we'll do a kindergarten “part 2” next year if we change our minds.
Language Arts: We are going to be doing lots of reading. Reading is the best thing for kindergarteners. With that in mind, we are using My Father's World Kindergarten for most of our work. We bought the readers that went along with the program.
*A few other books that I'll incorporate if she seems to be picking up on things easily:
—Sing, Spell, Read, & Write
—Get Ready for the Code Books A, B, & C {Maybe just A}
—Explode the Code {Don't assume to get to this one}
—Primary Phonics Workbook 1 {May not get to this one either}
—A Reason for Handwriting K: LOVE this program for penmanship! She'll do a few pages here and there.
I really like the letter stories behind IEW’s Primary Arts of Language (PAL): Reading & Writing. So, I'll incorporate that into what we are doing, too. I'll jump into this program more next year.
Math: We'll be starting Math U See Alpha. I don't plan to do much with her. I just want to introduce her to basic math concepts and counting.
Science: Ashlyn will be doing some science this year along with Wade, except not at co-op. I think she's really going to love Astronomy.
Preschool:
I'm a firm believer in NO CURRICULUM for preschool! Learning at this age is all about fun! I “sneak” learning into her day. I do have a fun workbooks for my little miss to “play” school with. I'll also be doing my friend Karen Fernandez's book ABC Trace & Say with her. Ashlyn actually likes “teaching” her from this book. It's really cute.
Here it is: The Video Behind the Blog Post!!
Here's the video for you to get a first hand view of the material. I go into detail about how use all of the above curriculum — & why! It's really a MUST SEE!
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We love Math U See, Fix It Grammar and IEW writing! We’ve used My Father’s World in the past and really enjoyed it. Looks like a great line up!
Yes! It’s so great! I’m so excited to share some of what I love with others.
Is the Apologia Who is God a good thing for the kindergarten level? Or is it a bit too advanced? Also do you get the junior journal to go with it? I’d love to see what it looks like inside but can’t seem to find any pictures or reviews of the product that show it.
I’d wait for Who Is God? until your kindergartener is a bit older. My son listened in at last year (2nd grade). He likes it. Christian Book Distributors and Rainbow Resources sometimes have a few sample pages on their sites to see a few page and get a feel for it.
Hi Kristi, I also just watched your curriculum video and I had some questions about the IEW PAL program. I noticed in the past you have used A Reason for Handwriting. As I was looking at IEW PAL I noticed that they have a penmanship program apart of the curriculum. Do you like the IEW program? Do you nix the IEW and use A Reason for Handwriting instead? Thanks for all that you do to share your experience and expertise in this scary world of homeschooling. We are still partially debating whether to start kinder this year with our son so we are a bit behind the game but excited at the same time!
I love IEW’s PAL. I just think it is hard to stick with one phonics program. It really seems like you have to change it up here and there. So, we’ll do PAL this year. I really like A Reason for Handwriting best for the handwriting element. Last year I had my son do both. This year, I’m giving him a pass on it and just do PAL’s writing work. Hope that helps.
That helps! Thank you so much!!
I just finished my daughter’s kindergarden year and while I feel good about how I approached it, seeing you affirm our choices with yours in print was wonderful. Thank you for sharing. ????
You are so welcome! 🙂
Hi, I was reading about your curriculum choices over the last few years. I am wondering why did you not use MFW last year and why did you decide to use again this year? I love MFW, but I also love some other curriculum choices and still am struggling to decide what I want to use for my kiddos. I have used MFW in the past and debating about returning to it 🙂 We would start 1850-mod this year if we used it as well, lol. Thanks.
Last year I was given a ton of Sonlight books, so I thought I would try those out. There wasn’t really any cross over between the MFW books and the ones I was given. I missed the structure of MFW, so we’re back. I should state that I wasn’t using the schedule for Sonlight, just trying to fit the books into our school year. Hope that helps. 🙂
HI Kristi,
My oldest son is 5 and we just started kindergarten last year. Do you have a post where you explain your reasons for not starting your boys until age 6? I’d be interested in learning more about that.
Thank you!
Ha! I don’t. 🙂 I should though. 🙂 We decided to wait for our boys to be six to start so they’d be older and more mature…and for sports. We haven’t regretted it at all.
I would love a blog post about this! ???? I have two boys and my oldest is 4. We are planning to homeschool, but I am very intrigued by waiting until he is 6.
Great idea!!! I’ll write it down. 🙂 Basically, we wanted our boys to be mature (since we started in public school) and older for sports. Ha! There are benefits to that last one.
Hello I have questions about curriculum. I got the Appologia Botany. I have a 4 almost 5 yr old and a just turned 6 yr old. I felt overwhelmed by the work book and text book. It seems like a waste not to do a decent amount of the notebook. And since they are not really writing yet I felt I would be doing all the writing work. So im holding off for a year or should i wait longer? My other question is I see a lot of people wait to start their kids in school. My 4 year and 6 year can read a little. (Dan and Nan stuff). So I am doing All About Reading Level 1 with both of them. How will I know if its too much for my 4 year old? She isnt the most motivated individual lol. She still asks me to dress her not that she can’t because its easier. ( I dont by the way). Is it Ok that I”m pushing her a little?
Apology Botany is probably a bit too much for your kiddos. Reading it aloud and letting them look at pictures might be a better way to do it. I’d look into the junior notebook and just have them do the coloring. Until they are writing, you may want to wait. It’s still really good. You could get fun library books to supplement it. Honestly, I’d skip most of the “curriculum” style stuff with your 5 year old. Just keep it fun and simple. There is lots to learn when you are having fun. 🙂
I see that the winners were announced, but cannot find the list of who they are. No clue if I was one ????
Yes, they were announced. I emailed everyone. I think I listed them all our in a newsletter for those who signed up to get the newsletter and I think on Facebook, too. Sorry, I should have written them here. 🙂 I’ll be having more soon.